
I’ve been watching The Bachelor and The Bachelorette on and off since Season One, but over the last few years, I’ve become more or less addicted to the franchise. February brings no shortage of content for Bachelor fans like myself. I’m watching both Arie’s season and The Bachelor Winter Games. On Tuesdays I look forward to listening to The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast on my subway ride to work. As fellow Bachelor fans know, Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti are series veterans—and both of them will be on the new Winter Games. Their insider knowledge adds context to the show recaps, there are plenty of interviews with cast members past and present (and a number of spontaneous ones that address hot gossip), and the podcast is overall a fun listen.
Maybe it’s lingering new-year, new-you, but I’ve been into reading and listening to advice columns lately. One of my favorites is the Dear Prudence podcast. Host Mallory Ortberg gives strong, generally decisive opinions on topics big and small, and her conversations with guest hosts are always spirited. My other go-to for advice is New York Magazine’s Ask Polly column. Heather Havrilesky takes a blunt, tough-love approach to advice-giving. I find that even when the letter doesn’t seem directly applicable to my circumstances, there are nuggets that hit home. (I don’t think Heather has a podcast…yet…but I’ll be a listener if she starts one.) I particularly enjoyed the recent Ask Polly column “I’m too Old for Love, but I Want It Anyway”—her “Little Mermaid” analogy had the unexpected effect of getting me even more excited about the Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales collection we’re publishing as an audiobook next month.